Part 13


"Oh, hi, JC! I wasn't expecting to see YOU tonight! What a yummy surprise!"

He'd been strolling silently through the lobby of Trinity Fitness and Health in Venice at what he hoped was a gentle, unhurried, and unnoticed pace, and when he heard the shrill greeting from behind the long reception counter, something inside him flinched so that he almost stumbled. He'd been miles away in his head and hadn't remembered the girl or what a super-sized crush she had on him. He slowed a little and looked over at her with what he figured was a genuine enough smile, albeit a tiny one.

"Evening, Jennifer. How's it going, darling?"

Her dark, vacant eyes crawled over him, up and down his body, as she grinned and unconsciously licked her shiny lips. "It's going great now! And wow! Don't you look snazzy!? Good enough to eat, I swear!"

This made JC stop completely and pull the rest of his brain in from left field on another universe. Not because what she'd said was overtly sexual and, twit-with-tits that she was, probably didn't even have a clue. No, more because she was eyeing him even more salaciously tonight than she usually did. First, he wondered vaguely if everything she said was always followed by an exclamation mark as it sounded. Then he glanced down at himself. At what she was drinking in with her thirsty eyes.

What he glanced down to see was that he was wearing the black jeans and dark-blue dress shirt instead of his usual racquetball gear.

Fuck. Bloody fuck. Forgot to change. Check me out, the dumbass of dumbasses. Guess that's what happens when you get your mind all jangled around some cute boy who's just breezed into your life from who the hell knows where.

"Um, thanks," he muttered when he realized Jennifer was still gawking at him and waiting for an answer. "I was in a hurry, you know. Didn't want to be late again."

"Oh, you got a date or something?" she threw in and giggled, but he could hear the downturn in her tone, the echoing hope that a "date" was the last thing he might be having tonight.

"A date? Who? Me?" He laughed a little nervously, detecting the "a little nervously" part as soon as it came rolling out of his mouth.

"No. Not hardly a date."

Well, maybe. Could be. Something LIKE a date. Maybe. If I'm lucky. I don't know. We'll sure as hell see.

"Great!" She beamed and then caught herself. "Uh, I mean……….you know."

JC threw up his hand for a quick, careless wave. "So I'll head on back there and put on something I can actually play racquetball in. That'd be, like, practical, eh? See ya, hon."

"Yeah, okay. And the big room, number one, is free all night, if you wanna use it. I can send your person to that one. Cool?"

"Excellent. It's that Timberlake guy at eight p.m. He's the only 'person' I've got booked tonight. 'Kay?"

Jennifer's brow furrowed, and the thin strap of her see-through blouse slipped down off her shoulder. "Again? Wasn't he just here last night? Wow. He's back for more so soon."

"I, um, sort of cut him short last night. I got mixed up on the times and whatnot," JC cut in to explain and then realized he didn't need to. She didn't need to know.

"Oh. And what's his first name again? Jason? Jonathon? Man, I always knew you were impressive on the court, JC! Repeat business is awesome! Suh-weet!"

She didn't just say "suh-weet," did she? Christ.

"Justin," JC corrected her aloud, quieting the voices in his head. And, the more he spoke the name, the more the whispery sound seemed to float easily and naturally off his tongue like a delicate layer of cashmere.

"Oh, yeah. Justin. He was nice. I'll send him back to ya as soon as he gets here."

"Awesome. I appreciate it tons, Jennifer."

"And JC?"

He turned toward her again because he'd already hoisted up his gym bag and started to walk away. "Yeah?"

"You really do look handsome this evening," she said with a coy, come-hither smile.

"Thanks," he murmured. As he made his way down the cool corridor to the men's locker room, he rolled his eyes at the warm blushing he felt on his cheeks.

Maybe someone else will think so too. If I'm lucky. Maybe.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

"Dude, you are so busted."

"What the?" Justin's laugh was spontaneous and singsong. His wide eyes danced. "How in the hell am I busted, man? I just got here!"

"You just got here LATE, dude. Check the digits. After you go ragging on me this afternoon for not being on time. Busted." JC stood across the court with his racquet gripped firmly, glanced up at the huge clock on the wall, and laughed merrily.

Justin followed his gaze upward and then focused on him again, advancing slowly over the slick court. "And you are so wrong, man. It is eight o'freaking-clock. On the dot. I'm not late."

"Eight o'freaking-one. And nine seconds." JC giggled again, settling his eyes on Justin's lithe body moving toward him, on what he could see of the long, lean legs that dropped down out of the well-fitting gray shorts.

Justin shook his head, still laughing in small, feathery gusts of air. "Fine. Go ahead and break my balls before we even get the game started. Asshole."

"I'm kidding, man. You know I couldn't resist a little dawging you out." JC smiled and held out his hand for a warm, welcoming shake. Because he really wanted to touch this guy again. In any way he could. "So what's up, Justin? I'm glad you could make it."

Justin completed his graceful saunter across the court and reached out to accept the physical greeting, smiling back. "Hey, JC. Glad I could make it too. On time, damnit."

"Yeah, yeah. I guess I could cut you some slack this go-round. Since you were cool about waiting for me last night and all."

"Hell, I told you to forget about that. Ancient history, man."

"All right. Then for the vivid present, here you go. We've got to wear these tonight. Surprise." JC turned and grabbed up two pairs of protective glasses off the bench next to him and tossed one pair to Justin. "Consider them a sports fashion accessory must-have. The latest in fine plastics."

Justin inspected his pair with a slight twitch along the length of his nose. "Lovely. Mandatory, eh?"

"Yep. Regulatory safety eyewear. In case we get too rough. You don't want that little ball zooming through the air and blasting your eyeball out. See, I spared you last night because I always spare first-timers. But tonight you get the full-on beauty goggles. Just slap 'em on, dude. Like this."

Justin shrugged as he watched JC stretch the elastic of the glasses' band over the dark curls of his hair and fit them on his face. The fluid beauty of the simple movement caused him to bite down on his bottom lip without meaning to. "Oh. Okay. No big thing. They don't look so awful on you."

JC smiled at the off-hand compliment, and at the hint of vanity in the air. Coming off this guy and off himself as well.

"Thanks. And I'm sure they won't do much to damage your boyish good looks either," he said quietly and enjoyed the shy, blushing grin that spread from one of Justin's cheeks to the other as he strapped on his own safety glasses. "So. Ready for some action?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Justin answered with a sparkly glimmer in his blue eyes.

You can't even begin to imagine just how ready I am, bay-bee.

He almost regretted that JC had to pull off the nice, bright red, clingy Nike jacket he wore. JC did bright red well, in his breathless opinion. But, also in Justin's breathless opinion, it was worth the view of him stretching, so languidly and elegantly, like a slinking big cat, as he eased the jacket off his arms and torso. Justin sighed quietly, filling and emptying his lungs of much-needed air, as he watched the liquid motion of the toned body.

Their game that evening progressed as fast and furious as the one the night before, both fiercely friendly competitors throwing their all into the action, hustling and bounding across the court to whack the small ball with their racquets, brimming with spirited life and energy and enthusiasm. They stopped occasionally to catch their breath or wipe perspiration off their foreheads. Or to meet at mid-court and sling a wisecrack at each other over the low net while exchanging a swipe of their palms down the other's sweaty bicep.

JC threw in a couple of coaching pointers here and there for the sake of helping Justin improve his game as well as for the sake of simply touching him again from any angle he could use. And they were both acutely aware of the delicious flinting sparks between their flesh on the hot, swift contact.

"Hey, now don't be giving away all your secrets of expertise, man. You don't want to make it too easy for me to kick your butt out here, do you?" Justin teased and laughed breathily, playfully pushing JC's shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah. Just keep on with your big talk, hot shot. I'll get us some spectators in here for our next little match and let 'em watch me take you downtown if you want," JC told him boldly, flexing a large tendon in his thigh with a practice swing.

"Spectators? The hell you say?" Justin rasped, caught off-guard by 1) the stunning sight of JC's muscle tightening and relaxing under the glistening flesh of his arm and 2) the spoken promise of yet another "next little match" with this mesmerizing individual.

JC swept his racquet upward through the air, painting an invisible stroke over the smoky glass panes lining the wall above them. "Those are windows up there, dude. People sit behind them sometimes and watch matches. This is the biggest room we've got, the observatory court."

"Oh. Cool," Justin answered, a bit awkwardly. He was suddenly glad for the goggles shielding his eyes because those eyes would've surely given away the fact that he knew all too well about the famed observatory court. Now from both sides of the dark windows, hehe. "But I don't think I'm ready for an audience just yet, man. Well, besides you." He smiled.

Slyly, JC cocked his head to the side and squinted a little. "So you're comfortable enough with me? Out here doing this? Granting me the privilege of being your exclusive audience?"

"Sure. You're all kinds of easy-going and fun, like full of spirit. And you're a great natural trainer too. You make people feel comfortable around you." Justin had pulled off the glasses by then, and now he glanced away from JC's deep piercing gaze.

"Cool. Glad you think so. I try." JC trailed off softly, inwardly making the effort to reinforce his courage, outwardly watching Justin twirl his racquet anxiously. Then he sucked in a large breath. "So what do you say we try something, you know, off the court then? 'Cause I think you're fun and easy-going too, see. Lots of it. And if you're not doing anything after this, then maybe we could go and get that drink like we mentioned on the phone this afternoon. Or whatever blows your skirt up. What would you say to that, or did I already ask this exact thing?"

Looking at him again, Justin grinned. "What I'd say is that when you get to rambling on like that, it's really unique and totally cute……….Oh, and yes. I was counting on getting that drink we talked about. I'm glad you didn't forget."

JC smiled and sighed relief. "I forget a lot of shit. But I didn't forget that."

"Great. It was on my mind too. Like all afternoon."

Cocking his head to the side again, JC eyed his playing partner through narrowed lids. "Justin, are you sure you're not blowing off any other plans or missing out on something big just to meet up with me again tonight?"

"Why? 'Cause it's Friday night and all?" Justin shrugged. "If I am, it's 'cause I want to, JC," he replied with feathery confidence. "I chose to. Okay?"

Feeling full of smiles tonight, JC produced another one, clearly pleased. "So what did I win out over? It had to be something. What did you have going on this fine evening?"

Justin tilted his head downward modestly. "Well, the guys at the office, they were all going out after work to drink and party. A little celebration of sorts."

"A celebration?"

"We found out today that we got the green light on that Dear Park Water contract. We'll be handling all of their advertising from now on. It was kind of a big deal."

JC reached over to push lightly at Justin's upper arm. "Man! That's awesome! Major congrats!"

"Thanks." Justin blushed pink and fumbled with his racquet.

"I'll bet you worked your tush off on getting that business, dude! That's a huge account for you, right? Bravo! And look. Are you absolutely sure this is how you want to spend your Friday night?"

Justin assured him with a quick smile. "Like I said, I'm here 'cause I want to be. This is exactly what I want to be doing tonight, right now. Got it?"

"Ah, then my turn to say gracias. I'm truly flattered."

"Cool. Glad we got that settled. So now that we're both on the same page, where might we be going for that drink? Since this is your neighborhood?"

"How about Burkhart's?" JC answered quickly, as if he'd had the locale picked out for months. "It's, like, just up the beach from here."

Justin smiled back brightly in response, as if the sun had shined on his whole face from a magnificently cloudless sky. That warm smile and the flicker of recognition in his eyes were a combined silent signal of hearty approval directed at JC. Because although Justin honestly didn't know a hell of a lot about the Venice Beach area, he was very familiar with Burkhart's, a well-established pub/eatery that proudly flew a huge rainbow pride flag out front. He and JC were now as much on the same page as they ever needed to be.

"Perfect spot," he murmured and soaked in the lyrical sound of JC's laugh.



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